In truth all of us are sinners, and it is only from Allah’s mercy upon us that He is "As-Sitteer" - the One who veils our faults and our flaws, and makes us seem better than we really are in others’ eyes...

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

A young couple moves into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside.

“That laundry is not very clean”, she said. “She doesn’t know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap”

Her husband looked on, but remained silent. Every time her neighbour would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments.

About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband: “Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this?”

The husband said, “I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.”

And so it is with life. What we see when watching others.. depends on the purity of the window (our heart) through which we look.

*********

Hadith 6 (in Forty Hadiths of Imam Nawawi):

On the authority of Abu 'Abdullah al-Nu'man bin Bashir, radiyallahu 'anhu, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, say:

"Truly, what is lawful (Halal) is evident, and what is unlawful (Haraam) is evident, and in between the two are matters which are doubtful which many people do not know. He who guards against doubtful things keeps his religion and honour blameless, and he who indulges in doubtful things indulges in fact in unlawful things, just as a shepherd who pastures his flock round a preserve will soon pasture them in it. Beware, every king has a preserve, and the things Allah has declared unlawful are His preserves. Beware, in the body there is a flesh; if it is sound, the whole body is sound, and if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt, and behold, it is theheart."

Saturday, October 10, 2009

A Muslim is all the answer I could find. These days, I find myself asking that question a lot. But I wonder if I'm really one you know, a Muslim I mean. I know I, er... mengucap dua kalimah syahadah and all.. But... I don't know. Whatever... someday, somehow... I'll know the answer... but what I really wanna talk about is... my friends. What kind of friends should I ... be friends with? Coz if you talk about 'kinds' meaning there are many types rite? In my opinion, it's nothing about looks... a little about brains and a lot about religion. It’s not that I don't want to be friends with a Buddhist or anything... I mean between Muslim... girls. There's this friend of mine... friends actually. They’re kind of a group. And they're all... what we call... free hair. I've never advised them to not be free hair-ers coz they're not particularly close friends of mine. So I get nervous when I wanna advise them... haha...pathetic rite? So all I can do is pray for them to change. Insha - Allah. But I also have a close friend who’s a free hair and tried to advise her but she said she don't want to or can't or whatever coz she wants to follow the women in her family who are also free hair-ers. I tried telling her the azab for not wearing the hijab and that its useless for following your family who are wrong doers but she didn’t listen. Said she was to embarrassed or something. So I told her to stand up for herself as a Muslim. Unfortunately, she's still being stubborn. And I'm really worried coz she's my really close friend. And I don’t want her to be punished by God. So I don't know what to do anymore besides praying to Allah that someday she'll change. But I sure wish that I can do more than just praying coz she's... important and I wish for her happiness and trust me, following God’s orders will make you happy unlike the opposite. So anyone has any idea what I should do? Tell me if you do. Bye. Oh and don't think I'm weird for telling you this coz you know, I'm still a high school student, so I ran into this situation once in a while. Not to mention I just started high school. Well, not really started but... it's only been 9 months and a half since I started. So I still need guidance.Haha..

***

You know who wrote that? My youngest sister, Atiqah. She just turned 13 about 2 months ago. I smiled reading this recent entry. And sis, if you're reading this - I'M SOOOO PROUD OF YOU! =)

To those Muslim adults who think and claim that they know everything and that they are in charge just because they are adults, perhaps you can learn something from this little girl.

This girl is in search of truth and Allah will guide her to that. And as a teenager, at a time when she is still finding her place int this world she is already doing her purpose in life even is she doesn't really understand about it yet - calling people to Allah and to truth.

Kita kadang-kadang hanyut dalam arus duniawi sehingga kita lupa hakikat kehidupan kita sebenarnya. Who are we? What are we doing here? Why are we sent here? What is the purpose of our creation?

To Atiqah - May you grow up to be a Muslim first above all things, may you become a daei in its truest sense, may you never loose your way in the quest of seraching for truth and may you be in Allah's guidance always and forever. Amin.

Sunday, October 04, 2009

The Effect of Sins on Human Beings, from the works of Ibn Qayyim over 650 years ago. From the notes of the Ilm Summit 09 course, compiled by a smart sister.

1. Deprived of knowledge. Knowledge is light and illumination, and if there is darkness of sin in the heart, then you will not be illuminated. Imam Shafi’ee complained to Waqi about his bad memory and was told to check his heart and lifestyle and abandon the sin. The light is not given to a sinner.

2. Denied of provision from Allah (subhanahu wata’ala). Hadeeth: sometimes Allah deprived a person of provision due to the sin committed. The more sins a person commits, the less provision. There is no barakah.

3. Feeling of loneliness in the heart. When a person is lonely, he does not come close to Allah and feels as if he is on his own. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) warned us from accepting that feeling. When you commit a sin, you feel so guilty and do not feel like you are worth being with the people who are good. You think that you are not on their level and ruining the gathering with your sins. This is not what Allah asks of you. Allah wants you to be close to Him regardless of what you do. You feel lonely even when people are around you. Why? You are not like them and they won’t accept you if they knew who you are. This is worse. You are physically with them but feel alone. The Shaytan goes after the one who is separate from the crowd mentally and psychologically. Life becomes difficult for them. Of these influences: darkness in your heart (cannot distinguish between right and wrong).

4. Darkness in the heart. Cannot distinguish between right and wrong.

5. Takes a toll on the body and heart. Spiritually and physically exhausted. Ibaadah becomes very hard.

6. Deprived of the sweetness of ibaadah.

7. Makes your life shorter. In terms of barakah and age. In terms of age: you are stressed out all the time or some people commit suicide because of the sin. Someone committing a sin goes after one sin after the other. This may cause physical damage to the person. The most important thing is the barakah of the time.

8. The sin breeds the sin. This is one of the worst effects of the sin. If you do a sin and enjoy it, then it will lead to something new.

I share this as a reminder to myself first, and then to you reader.

I’m not alone in my sins. I’m not alone in my mistakes. I’m not alone in what I do. I’m not alone seeking repentance. I’m not alone falling down. I’m not alone. I’m not alone.